Stopcock



D. C. FISHER.

STOPCOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 26. 19w.

1,332,492. Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

//v VEN TUE.

DANIEL C. FISHER, 0F BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

Application filed June 26, 1919.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, DANIEL C. FISHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Stopcocks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a stop cock for controlling the flow of fluid through a conduit such as the gasolene feed pipe of an explosive engine on a motor vehicle. The object of the invention is to provide a stop cock of simple construction, the valve member of which is adapted to be turned to open and close the cock only by a wrench of predetermined form, and separable from the cock, the valve member being so. guarded that it cannot be turned by an ordinary tampering instrumentality. After a cock embodying the invention has been closed and the wrench has been removed, the cock can be opened only by the same wrench or a duplicate thereof, s that the operation of the cock with fraudulent intent may be readily prevented.

The invention is embodied in the iniprovements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification,-

Figure l'is a plan view of a stop cock embodying the invention.

Fig. 2 is a section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of 2.

Fig. L is an end view of the valve member of the cock.

Fig. 5 is a side view of a portion of the valve member.

Fig. 6 is a side view, and

Fig. 7 an end view of a wrench suitable for use with the cock structure shown by the preceding figures.

Fig. 8 is a view similar to a portion of 2, showing the wrench in section and engaged with the cock.

Figs. 9 and 10 are plan views showing the wrench engaged with the cock.

Figs. 11 and 12 are, respectively, a plan view and a partial side view of a valve member having a wrench-engaging end face of different form.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 2, 1920.

Serial No. 306,906.

Fig. 13 is a view similar to Fig. 8, showing differently formed end faces on the valve member and wrench.

The same reference characters indicate the same parts in all of the figures.

In the drawings, 12 represents a cock casing having a tapered seat 13 in which the plug or valve member l-it is fitted to turn. The casing has the usual inlet and outlet passages 15 and 16, and the valve member has the usualtransverse passage 17 which connects the passages 15 and 16 when the cock is open.

The construction thus far described includes nothing new.

In carrying out my invention I provide. the casing 12 with a curb l9 surrounding the larger end of the seat 13, and project ing outwardly therefrom. I also provide the valve member let with a wrench-engaging end face.

As shown by Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4:, 5, and 8, said end face includes a flat portion 20, at right angles with the longitudinal axis of the valve member, and.a marginal portion of polygonal form, the end face being therefore shouldered to have a suitable interlocking engagement with a device for turning the valve member, said device being a wrench 21 having a correspondingly shouldered end face 21* and a handle 21 The curb 19 is so spaced from the margin of the head 20, that a continuous wrenchreceiving space is formed in the curb outside the end face of the valve member. The form of the said end face, and the form of the curb, are such that a tampering instrumentality, such as a pair of nippers. cannot engage the end face to successfully turn the valve member. The end face of the valve member may include a fiat portion 20, and a polygonal mar inal portion, composed, as shown by Figs. 11 and 12, of faces 20* which are inclined relatively to the portion 20, and are engageable by a wrench-end-face having a similar formation.

The curb is provided with registering and holding-down means adapted to cooperate with a registering member on the wrench in indicating the position of the valve member when the cock is fully closed and fully open,

\ means.

and in holding the wrench in engagement with the valve member when turning the latter. I prefer t embody said means in two slots 22 and 28 in the inner surface of the curb, and extending through the outer end thereof, and in a flange 19 between said slots. The registering member onthe wrench is preferably a stud 24, formed to pass through either slot. The arrangement is such that when the cock is open, the stud 24: is in alinement with the slot 22, as shown by Fig. 9, and when the cock is closed, the stud is in alinement with the slot 28, as shown by Fig. 10. A portion 19 of the inner surface of the curb is offset outwardly to permit the movement of the stud 24 from slot to slot, stop shoulders 19 being formed at the ends of the offset portion to arrest the stud. "A portion of the curb between the slots 22 and 23, constitutes the flange 19 which holds down the stud 24 and prevents the wrench from rising from the valve member end fa"e while turning the valve member. This holding-down flange is particularly useful when the valve member end face has a formation such as that shown by Figs. 11 and 12.

The valve member end face may be recessed to form wrench-engaging shoulders 20, formed to cooperate with projecting shoulders 21 on the end face of the wrench, as shown by Fig. 13, the flat portion 20 forming the bottom of the recess.

It is obvious that the end face of the valve member, and the complemental end face of the wrench may have any desired formation which will enable the wrench to turn the valve member when applied thereto in a position determined by said registering The area of the end face of the valve member is preferably substantially equal to the area of the wrench-receiving space surrounded by the curb, so that a wrench having an end face of corresponding area is required. A wrench of this form is unusual, and an effective substitute therefor cannot be readily formed or improvised by a thief.

The end face of the valve member may be properly called thief-proof, because it is adapted to frustrate the machinations of a thief. Although the end face when proportioned as shown by Figs. 1 and 2, may be more vulnerable than the forms shown by Figs. 11, 12 and 18, an objection on this ground may be readily remedied by decreasing the height of the polygonal margin of the flat portion 20.

I claim:

1. A stop cock comprising a casing having an internal valve seat, inlet and outlet passages communicating with said seat, and

a curb surrounding the outer end of said seat and forming the margin of a wrench-receivlng space, and a valve member formed as a plug, fitting and adapted to turn in said seat and having a transverse passage connecting said inlet and outlet passages when the cock is open, the valve being insertible in its seat through said curb, and provided with a wrench-engaging thiefproof end face at the inner end of said wrench-receiving space, and formed to engage a complemental end face on a wrench whereby the valve member may be turned, the curb being provided with registering and holding-down means adapted to cooperate with a member on the wrench in indicating the open and closed positions of the valve member, and in maintaining the wrench in operative engagement with the valve member while turning the latter, said curb being internally formed to permit the operative engagement with the end face of the valve member, in either the. open or closed position of the valve, of a wrench having an end face of predetermined form complemental to-the form of said curb, and to the form of the end face of the valve member.

2. A stop cock substantially as specified by claim 1, the registering means being embodied in two spaced apart slots formed in the inner surface of the curb and extending through the outer end thereof, each slot being adapted to cooperate with an outwardly pro1ecting stud on a wrench, in guiding the end face of the wrench into and out of engagement with the end face of the valve member head.

3. A stop cock substantially as specified by claim 1, the area of the end face of the valve member being substantially equal to the area of the said wrench-receiving space, so that a wrench having an end face of corresponding area is required.

4:. A stop cock substantially as specified by claim 1, the said registering and holding-down means being embodied in two spaced apart slots formed in the inner surface of the curb, and extending through the outer end thereof, to receive an outwardly projecting stud on a wrench, said slots providing two spaced apart stop shoulders adapted to arrest said stud, the one when the valve member is opened, and the other when the valve member is closed, and an inwardly projecting flange between said slots, adapted to hold down said stud when the latter is moving from slot to slot.

5. A stop cock substantially as specified by claim 1, combined with a wrench formed to enter and substantially fill said space, and provided with an end face to engage the end face of the valve member, and with an external registering member adapted to co operate with said registering means.

6. A stop cock substantially as specified by claim 1, said registering and holdingdown means being embodied in two spaced apart slots formed in the inner surface of the curb and extending through the outer end thereof, and an inwardly projecting flange between said slots, in combination with a Wrench formed to enter and substantially fill said curb, and provided with an end face complemental to the end face of the valve member, and with an external stud adapted to pass through either of said slots, 10 and under said flange.

In testimony whereof I have afiiXed my signature.

D. G. FISHER. 

